


Adventures in dentistry

by TheWalrusAndTheCarpenter



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Based off of the headcanon I have that Abed doesn't like to go to the dentist, Dentist Visit, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 23:04:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3428828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWalrusAndTheCarpenter/pseuds/TheWalrusAndTheCarpenter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Abed noticed it, was when he and Troy were watching Inspector Spacetime late one Thursday evening. The Inspector had just spotted a Blorgon Ship breaching the Earth’s atmosphere and had mentioned it to Constable Reggie. As they had begun to discuss what to do, Abed had bit into a handful of Raisinets, which had caused a sharp pain to shoot through his jaw. He didn’t shout or make the high-pitched scream he often did as a result of something he didn’t like, he just raised his eyebrows slightly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventures in dentistry

The first time Abed noticed it, was when he and Troy were watching Inspector Spacetime late one Thursday evening. The Inspector had just spotted a Blorgon Ship breaching the Earth’s atmosphere and had mentioned it to Constable Reggie. As they had begun to discuss what to do, Abed had bit into a handful of Raisinets, which had caused a sharp pain to shoot through his jaw. He didn’t shout or make the high-pitched scream he often did as a result of something he didn’t like happening, he just raised his eyebrows slightly.

Troy noticed his friend raising his eyebrows, usually Abed did this when he was really happy and around people that weren’t him or Annie, or when something bad happened and he was still trying to figure out how to correctly respond. Considering that the current episode of Inspector Spacetime wasn’t one that would make someone particularly happy, since it ends on such a dramatic cliff hanger where the Inspector gets trapped on the Blorgon ship and no one is sure whether Reggie is alive or not, Troy ruled out the first option.   
  
“You okay man?” He asked Abed, a bit confused as to what he’s trying to react to, since not much had really been happening, all they were doing was watching TV.  
  
Abed kept his eyes on the television screen and silently nodded. He didn’t finish his packet of raisinets like he usually did. He tried to focus on anything but the pain in his jaw, as though ignoring it would make it go away.

The second time it happened was while the group was in the study room the following day. Pierce was having a go at how Jeff’s clothes were gay which apparently automatically made Jeff gay too, which confused Abed as clothes are incapable of romantic and/or sexual desires. However, he never voiced his opinion and instead went to reach for the cold bottle of water that he had kept in his bag.  
  
“I’m just saying Jeff is that if you wear clothes like that, people are going to think that you’re gay,” Pierce said with the same tone of voice he always seemed to speak in when saying something he didn’t realise was offensive. “And just because you are doesn’t mean you have to dress like it!”  
  
Jeff sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as though it would help his rebuttal.  
“Pierce how many times do I have to tell you, I’m not gay! I’ll have you know that I’m currently dating that cute girl from Spanish.”   
  
“Oh that’s _nice_!” Shirley had added, smiling sweetly.   
  
The whole group had turned the conversation towards Jeff and his love interests when a small high pitched scream erupted from Abed, lasting no longer than three seconds. He had taken a sip from his cold water bottle, which had caused the pain in his tooth to flood through his jaw so suddenly he reacted the one way he knew.  
  
Immediately, the groups attention had yet again been side tracked, but this time towards Abed.   
  
“Abed are you alright?” Britta asked, furrowing her forehead in concern.  


"Yes Britta I’m fine, why do you ask?" He replied gaining his composure which he had to admit was a bit hard to do while he was in pain and having Troy look at him with a very concerned expression.   
  
“Ay-bed has got to have a crush on Jeff!” Pierce blurted, causing the study group to all turn to him in confusion, silently prompting him to explain himself “He heard about Jeff’s new girlfriend and cried out in anguish as he realised he doesn’t stand a chance with him!”  
  
By now the room was in silence, sitting in pure awe of how ridiculous Pierce was being. No matter how long they had known Pierce, some of the stuff he comes up with still managed to disgust and bewilder them.  
  
“I don’t have feelings for Jeff, no offence Jeff.”  
  
“None taken.”  
  
Pierce mulled over what Abed had said before yet again leaning forward to say something.  
“But you never said you weren’t gay.”  
  
“You never insinuated it; you purely suggested that I had a crush on Jeff. I could be pansexual, bisexual, demisexual-“  
  
“What does-” Troy interrupted, confused as to what these new terms meant.  
  
“I’ll explain them later. Either way, you only suggested I had feelings for Jeff and not that I was gay. Therefore I don’t have anything to clarify.”   
  
Sitting back, Pierce took in this response and promptly shut his mouth, not pressing he topic any further. There was a few seconds of awkward murmuring before Shirley had begun to discuss her new cupcake recipe which had most of the group enthralled in conversation again.

Abed’s jaw had calmed down too, with only a dull throb left behind. Maybe his method of ignoring the pain was actually working, although he knew at the back of his mind that it wasn’t. Although, he was sure to only drink room temperature water for the next few days, even if it wasn’t quite as nice as cool, refreshing water.

Later that night it happened again. Troy and Abed were at home watching TV while Annie was off at the library doing some final revision for an exam she had the next day.   
  
“So wait, what’s pansexual again?” Troy asked for the third time.

Anyone else would have gotten annoyed at the fact he wasn’t grasping the concept but as part of Troy and Abed’s relationship, they both agreed to be completely patient with one another since no one else was.  
  
“It’s where you are sexually attracted to people of any gender.” He explained calmly.  
  
“And so there’s more than two genders right?”   
  
“Correct.”  
  
Troy threw his head back and stared at the ceiling, “Dude this is wrinkling my brain.”  
  
He had said it in such a way that Abed knew that he had understood it but it was still sinking in. Abed allowed a small smile to creep onto his face as he watched Troy think over all of what he has just explained. He was sort of adorable when he was thinking over things.

"I’m going to make some buttered noodles," Abed announced as he got up from the sofa and headed to their kitchenette.

Troy didn’t even need to voice a request for food as he knew that Abed would automatically make some for him too. After living together for a while they’ve started doing little things like that without noticing. For example, whenever Troy goes shopping, he always buys Abed one of the little Lego mini figures because Troy thinks they’re really cute and Abed likes to use them to try and make stop motion animations. It just something that they do and will always continue to do.  
  
After popping the dishes into the microwave Abed quietly went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror opposite the toilet and the bowl of toilet olives. He opened his mouth and tried to angle his head so he could attempt to see what was causing him so much discomfort. Unfortunately, the microwave alarm went off before he could see anything so Abed took this as a sign that his teeth were fine, the pain would pass and that he wouldn’t need to visit the dentist.

Something about dentists really scared Abed and that wasn’t something he experienced very often, fear. Probably the only other time he truly experienced it was during the Pillow/Blanket Fort War when he realised that he and Troy might never get back to being the way they were before. It’s like in sitcoms where one of the couples have a massive argument which results in then breaking up only for them to get back together again and complain that things aren’t the same as they used to be, so they break up again.

Whether it is the drills, or the sharp utensils used to scratch at your teeth, or even the atmosphere in there, Abed wasn’t sure. Just something about the going to the dentist petrified him, which is why he stopped going when he was 16.  


Once he opened the microwave, Abed used Annie’s pink oven gloves to transfer the inside of the hot plastic packaging bowl, into two smaller bowls. After grabbing two forks and placing one in each bowl, he carried the meals out into the living room being careful as to not accidentally drop the forks, or worse, the noodles.   
  
“Here,” Abed handed over the noodle bowl to Troy who accepted it gratefully, warming his hands on the hot ceramic exterior.  
  
“I’ve set up Pretty In Pink because, I dunno, I wanted to watch something like that for a change.” Explained Troy as he rested the bowl on his knee to allow him to reach for the remote and press play.  
  
“Cool. Cool, cool, cool.”

Abed thought briefly about whether chewing on the opposite side of his mouth would affect if his tooth hurt or not, he came to the conclusion that it probably would because the only pain he has been having seemed to be coming from a tooth on the left hand side of his face. He swirled the noodles around his fork and brought them into his mouth. At first he was met with the unexplainable delight and bliss that comes only with a good bowl of buttered noodles, but then the pain started. It was so much more intense than earlier that Abed had dropped his fork in the shock. Without realising it, he started making a high pitched noise, keeping his lips firmly shut. Almost immediately Troy was at his side, hesitating before rubbing his back.  
  
“Buddy, what’s the matter?”  
  
Troy kept trying to get through to him but Abed wasn’t paying attention, the pain was getting to be too much and there was something solid and metallic-tasting in his mouth.

After a couple of minutes the pain eventually began to subside and with it went the high pitched noise Abed was making without realising. Troy continued to rub Abed’s back throughout the entire ordeal, sometimes it helped and sometimes it didn’t do anything but Troy always did it just so that Abed knew that he wasn’t alone and that Troy was still with him. Being able to focus a bit better, Abed pushed the solid object towards the front of his mouth before spitting it into the palm of his hand. A large blackened fragment of tooth covered in blood, and the remnants of some half chewed buttered noodles sat in his hand.

“Oh,” was all Abed said.  
  
Troy’s eyes widened.  
  
“Holy shit, why didn’t you say something earlier?! When was the last time you went to the dentist?”   
Abed didn’t reply to the question, instead, he stood up to go and rinse his mouth out with some water and Troy followed him.  
  
“Seriously though,” Troy began “When did you last go to the dentist because, no offence, but that is more decay than tooth.”  
  
Abed swished the cool water around his mouth, which tasted sickeningly of metal, most likely due to the blood. He was more upset about ruining a good warm bowl of buttered noodles than having a tooth fall out. This probably meant that he wouldn’t have to go to the dentist as the problem was gone, so that made him happy. The water he spat back out into the sink was a shocking red.   
  
“When I was sixteen.” Abed stated as he allowed his tongue to explore the sharp tooth fragment left behind when the other chunk broke off. After he was finished rinsing out his mouth until the water came back clear, he turned to Troy who didn’t look particularly impressed.  
  
“You don’t look happy,”  
  
“I’m not happy!” Troy said which took Abed by surprise, Troy wasn’t usually unhappy because of him. “I kept asking you what was wrong but you never answered honestly, and now you have one less tooth!”  
  
Abed drooped his head a little, something he had seen characters do when they were being scolded to show that they were sorry for what they had done. He also didn’t point out that it was only half of his tooth that had come out, in case he made things worse. Apparently it worked as Troy sighed and smiled slightly.  
  
“Don’t worry, we can just drop by the dentist tomorrow and get everything sorted out.”   
  
“No it’s fine Troy. The problem tooth is out now, so there’s no need to waste money on something like that.”  


"Nah dude seriously it’s fine, it needs to be done. Like, if one tooth got that bad it’s probably likely that there are other teeth that aren’t too health too."   
  
Abed thought it over and Troy did have a point, it was very possible that he had more teeth like that, just not as bad. Although if he did have more it wasn’t noticeable because if he did one of those toothy grins school photographers always wanted, you never saw any cavities or discolouration. Either way though, whether he had more damaged teeth or not, Abed really did not want to go.  
  
“As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm for dental hygiene Troy, I’m not going to the dentist.”   
Then Troy understood Abed’s refusal to go.  
   
“You’re scared…” Troy said quietly as though he was afraid to scare Abed off.  
Abed didn’t reply, he didn’t need to reply for Troy to know it was true. “That’s fine dude, everyone is scared of something!”  
  
As true as that was, it didn’t make it any less of an inconvenience for Abed.  
  
“Troy, please don’t make me go.” He was almost begging now which Abed though was very out of character for himself.  
  
“As much as I would love to just sit and watch Inspector Spacetime tomorrow, I really don’t want you to not go and then have this repeat until you end up with those creepy plastic teeth old people have because all of your actual teeth have fallen out!”  
  
Abed still wasn’t being persuaded. He didn’t want some weird old white guy with blinding white teeth poking around his mouth with a sharp metal object. But he could tell that Troy was truly concerned for him.  
  
“Only if you promise that we can expand the blanket fort out for the weekend.” If he was going to have to go to the dentist he required some form of compensation, although Troy probably would have agreed to a blanket fort expansion even without it only being suggested for persuasion purposes.  
  
“Deal.” Troy said looking up at Abed with a smile. “It’s going to be fine, trust me. I’ll go heat up some more noodles.”  
  
“And I’ll rewind the movie.”  
  
The two then continued the evening as though the earlier events hadn’t happened, although Abed was a bit more cautious when he ate his buttered noodles this time. By the time Annie had come home, the pair were asleep on the sofa, empty bowls on the table in front of them. As she draped a blanket over them, she failed to notice the bloodied tooth chip that was also still on the table.

Abed awoke the next morning to find that the heat creating thing that was pressed against his side was gone. Apparently towards the end of the movie the two had shuffled together and fallen asleep, with Troy’s head fitting perfectly on Abed’s shoulder.   
  
“- okay we’ll see you then. Thanks.” Abed recognised the voice even in his sleepy haze as it being Troy’s.  
  
Soon enough, Troy came back into the living room holding his phone in one hand.

“We need to be at the dentist’s by 11:15. We were really lucky to get an appointment apparently there had been a load of emergency appointments.”   
  
“We?” Abed asked, a little confused. He was under the impression that he would be forced to go by himself like he always had to when he was younger. His dad couldn’t leave the falafel restaurant for very long, it was their only source of income.  
  
Troy nodded, “yeah, ‘we’. I’m not leaving you alone man, that’d be really not-cool.”  
  
A very faint smile graced Abed’s lips. Once the pair had eaten breakfast and watched an episode of Cougar Town, Abed got up to go and change out of the previous day’s clothes.

They had arrived at the surgery with plenty of time to spare so Abed stopped staring around the room and begun to watch Troy play a card game on his phone. Their waiting time was cut short due the appointment before Abed’s being wrapped up early. 

“Abed Nadir.” The dental assistant called out into the waiting room and Abed automatically tensed. Troy got up to head into the room but stopped when he saw that Abed wasn’t even standing.  
  
“Come on we have to go,” Troy said holding out his hand for Abed “Blanket fort expansion, remember?”  
  
Nodding, Abed took his hand and got up. “Blanket fort expansion.” He muttered quietly under his breath. He didn’t stop Troy from continuing to hold his hand.

The chair creaked as it tilted back so that Abed’s head was basically in the dentist’s lap. Abed could feel his heart begin to pound as he heard the dentist putting on his latex gloves.   
  
“So Mr Nadir, your friend said that you hadn’t been to any dental appointments since you were 16. Now, a dislike of dental procedures is understandable and very common; you’re not the only person I’ve seen that hasn’t visited a dentist in years.” The dentist, an elderly man with a raspy yet slightly friendly voice explained. “And you won’t be the last. Now could you please open your mouth?”

Abed did as he was told, keeping his eyes glued on Troy like they had planned out back at home. Abed was to look at Troy and Troy would try his best to keep him calm and happy.

The dentist used his mouth mirror to check around the top and bottom rows of teeth. Through the entire examination the man was silent, which Abed couldn’t decide was a good thing or not. He continued to look at Troy, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Abed wasn’t sure whether that meant ‘well done, you’ve not bitten him or started screaming yet’ or ‘you’re doing fine’.

The whole session was spent mainly with the dentist talking to the dental assistant in some kind of dentist code that neither Troy nor Abed could understand. It wasn’t until he had finished examining Abed’s mouth that he actually spoke to him and not his assistant.

"Now, overall it’s not as bad as I expected it to be."  
  
To this Troy did another thumbs up which caused Abed to relax a little bit.

"However, there are a few minor cavities that will need filling, we’re also going to have to fill in that section  of tooth you have chipped off because leaving it open like that may cut your mouth and cause infections."

"Oh." Abed said disheartened, because of the first bit of news from the dentist he thought that he would have been able to go back home, apparently not.

"Now, I’ve got you booked for a double appointment so we can do that now since we have time." Warning lights were beginning to go off in Abed’s mind as the dentist turned around and came back with a needle and syringe. "Now I just need to inject this into the roof of your mouth so that you won’t be able to feel anything, okay?"

Abed didn’t really have time to say anything as the needle was put into the roof of his mouth, the cold pressure contrasted the warm pressure against his hand. Troy had moved over to the seat and began to hold Abed’s hand. Troy was always doing things like that because he understood Abed more than other people did. Troy could get away with holding his hand, or rubbing his back or any other kind of physical contact because he understood when Abed would allow it and when he wouldn’t. Then was definitely a time to allow physical contact.

"Now if you head back into the waiting room so that can kick in, we’ll get everything ready back in here."

Even in the waiting room, Troy continued to hold Abed’s hand.

"I don’t like this." Abed stated, his lip starting to droop from the injection. "I can’t feel my face."

"That’s what’s supposed to happen." Explained Troy "If they didn’t do that then people would work themselves up more during fillings and stuff because sometimes it hurts a little."

"I don’t understand why my teeth are like this though, I brush them perfectly fine." Abed mumbled, using his free hand to fiddle with the end of his cardigan.

"Well dude you _do_ eat a lot of sweets. I don’t think I’ve seen someone with a big of a sweet tooth as you."

"True."

"Abed Nadir?" The dental assistant called a little while later into the quite waiting room, "You can come back in now."

When they re-entered the room and Abed sat down, there was a new trolly of dental equipment next to the chair.

"By now the injection should be working, meaning I’m just going to get straight to work." The dentist reached to the trolly and picked up a high speed drill and a tube that would suck up all of the decay fragments removed by the drill.

The whining screech of the drill was the only thing Abed could hear and as it got closer to his teeth, his eyebrows continued to rise. Troy saw his panic and started massaging the back of his hand with his thumb, it worked a little bit but as soon as the drill touched his teeth Abed passed out. Later on he would describe it as that he had short circuited, the flood of emotions and him not really knowing how to express them properly, along with his already existing dislike of going to the dentist, had caused his body shut down.

He woke up when Troy gently began to nudge his shoulder.  
  
“Abed? Buddy?”  
  
Abed’s eyes opened, blinking frequently as they tried to adjust to the bright lights.  
  
“You’re done; everything was finished while you were unconscious.” The dentist explained.  
Abed moved his tongue to where the chipped tooth had been the previous day, but it was now filled with a replacement tooth. It was almost as if it had never been broken in the first place. He was still painfully aware though of the fact that he still had no control of half of his face.  
  
“When does this wear off?” He asked after he opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish to judge how numb his face actually was.  
  
“Oh, just a few hours don’t worry. Now if you talk to the receptionist by the entrance we can book another appointment in six months’ time.”  
  
Abed looked at Troy who seemed to look incredibly proud and happy.

As they walked towards the exit, Troy smiled again.  
   
“You were really awesome in there. Don’t worry, I’m not going to force you into coming again in six months time but just, I dunno, cut down on the really sugary snacks?”

Abed nodded, he was exhausted. All he wanted to do was to go home and get in the blanket fort and sleep; the fort’s extension could wait until later. Troy sensed this and allowed Abed to doze on the drive back.

When they arrived back home, Abed went straight into the pillow fort and bundled himself up in the blanket flooring, ignoring Annie when she started to ask how it went. His face was still numb but at least it didn’t hurt anymore. However, he was emotionally and physically drained and he just wanted to be able to do nothing at all.

Troy came into the pillow fort shortly after, with the blanket from Abed’s bed, a portable DVD player and a pile of DVDs .

"I thought you might want these," Troy said quietly with a small smile. He draped the blanket over Abed and handed over the DVDs. "If you’re up for a movie it’s your choice, but if you want to sleep, I’ll leave you alone."

Part of Abed did want to just sleep but he also really wanted to spend some time with Troy since he was really nice to him all day. So he quickly rifled through the selection of DVDs before picking one to watch.

"The Breakfast Club." Abed explained as he put the disc into the portable player.

Troy smiled and sat next to Abed, pulling another blanket from the floor to wrap around himself. The day had been stressful and they both deserved to spend the rest of it doing nothing but watching movies. Halfway through the film though, Abed did end up falling asleep but Troy didn’t mind Abed’s head resting on top of his own, he never minds. It’s far too sweet to bother him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So that was my first community related fic that I wrote weeks ago. I'm sorry if the character personalities are a bit off, i'm not too great at writing fanfics but y'know at least I enjoy it. If you notice any mistakes feel free to point them out to me and I shall correct them, have a great day/night!


End file.
